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Chitosan–copper oxide (CHT–CuO) nanocomposite was made by an in-situ method utilizing olive leaf extract (OLE) as reductant. The OLE mediated CHT–CuO nanocomposite containing varying amount of chitosan (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 g) was evaluated as corrosion inhibitor for X60 carbon steel in 5 wt% hydrochloric acid solution. The corrosion inhibitive performance was assessed utilizing weight loss and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, linear polarization resistance and potentiodynamic polarization techniques complemented with surface assessment of the corroded X60 carbon steel without and with the additives using scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and 3D optical profilometer. The effect of KI addition on the corrosion protection capacity of the nanocomposites was also examined. Corrosion inhibitive effect was observed to increase with increase in the nanocomposites dosage with the highest inhibition efficiency (IE) achieved at the optimum dosage of 0.5%. The order of corrosion inhibition performance followed the trend CHT1.0–CuO (90.35%) > CHT0.5–CuO (90.16%) > CHT2.0–CuO (89.52%) nanocomposite from impedance measurements. Also, IE was found to increase as the temperature was raised from 25 to 40 °C and afterwards a decline in IE was observed with further increase in temperature to 50 and 60 °C. The potentiodynamic polarization results suggest that the nanocomposites alone and in combination with KI inhibited the corrosion of X60 carbon steel by an active site blocking mechanism. Addition of KI upgrades the IE of the nanocomposites but is not attributable to synergistic influence. The lack of synergistic influence was confirmed from the computed synergism parameter (S1) which was found to be less than unity with values of 0.89, 0.74 and 0.75 for CHT0.5–CuO, CHT1.0–CuO and CHT2.0–CuO nanocomposites, respectively, at 60 °C. Furthermore, KI addition improved the IE with rise in temperature from 25 to 60 °C. Surface analysis results confirm the formation of a protective film which could be attributed to the adsorption of the nanocomposites on the carbon steel surface.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been synthesized in the presence of Strawberry fruit extract (SBFE) at room temperature. The synthesized AgNPs was characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, SEM, EDS, XRD, TEM and FTIR. The UV-vis spectra of the AgNPs show SPR band at 450 nm. TEM results indicate that AgNPs are spherical in shape and size range between 7–65 nm. Antibacterial activity of the synthesized AgNPs has been assessed against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus licheniformis. The results show that AgNPs exhibit inhibitory effect and effect is a function of AgNPs concentration. The antibacterial activity of the prepared AgNPs has been compared with two antibiotics, amoxicillin and ciprofloxacin. It is found that the antibiotics perform better than AgNPs.

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Campaigning organisations such as Carers UK, Help the Aged and Age Concern have worked tirelessly to ensure that the needs of carers are central to the Government’s emerging political agenda, culminating in the recently published New Deal for Carers strategy (Department of Health, 2007). While older carers - along with younger carers - will benefit from changes to existing funding streams and the creation of new ones, the needs of older carers are particularly challenging and to date they remain relatively under reported in research. Few older carers are involved in research as active partners which means that most of the information available - while essential in its own right – does not provide a personal account of the hidden work and world of older carers. One of the key aims of this study therefore was to develop a participatory methodology capable of involving older carers as co-researchers, in a study that sought to make visible their hidden work and world. Using naturalistic case study, older carers were supported to assume the dual role of research participant and co-researcher. In their role as research participants, older carers kept a research diary for seven days detailing their day-to-day activities. As co-researchers, older carers met together in a series of focus group meetings to carefully examine the contents of the diaries, using the meetings to add reflective notes, stories and anecdotal comments, thereby situating the diaries in their proper social and political context. Older carers identified a number of issues, including living with social exclusion, the importance of money and the difficulty of managing emergency situations – all key issues in the Government’s new strategy for older carers, and they proved that they had the necessary skills, knowledge, motivation and flair to contribute to research and debates of national importance. The complex nature of caring in later life was powerfully illustrated by stories that demonstrated the heroic means by which older carers lived their lives, every single day. In conclusion, this study called for a step change in the number of older people involved in research, planning and service development activities, and an end to the use of passive language when describing the skills, knowledge and experience of older people. It exhorted health and social care professionals to examine their own in-built bias and prejudices, so that fair and just systems of community involvement could be built.

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